Archaeology For Dummies Paperback – October 6, 2008

well written and easy to understand

An excellent book making archeology come alive and be real. It helps see through all the false truths and misconceptions put out to the public by modern media in the name of money. The storyline is well developed and easy for a novice like me to understand. I really like this book and I highly recommend it.

This series is great; I bought this to review as a possible text book for an introductory archaeology text - something that is a bit more cost effective for a student budget. Unfortunately, due to the general lack of photographs and cursory discussion of some subjects (which could certainly be covered in lecture), I will probably stick to my standard text book by Renfrew and Bahn. However, for the interested lay person or as a supplementary text to a prehistory course (where the focus isn't general archaeological techniques), this book has a lot to offer.

When I first saw there was an Archaeology for Dummies book, I let out a groan. While fanciful depictions of Egyptians, Aztecs, or Indiana Jones generate a large amount of public interest in the subject, those depictions can be a tad out of line with the experience of today's archaeologist. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this book! White spends a great deal of time chronicling the realities of discipline, giving good insight into the who, what, where, when, why, and how archaeology is done. Quite honestly, I wish this book had been around when I was an undergraduate anthropology major! I'd highly recommend its use as some sort of supplemental text in an intro-level archaeology or anthropology class. Older children and adults with a strong curiosity about archaeology would also benefit from a reading of this book.

I got this book hoping for an overview of Archaeology and got exactly what I was hoping for. I am still ready it, but I find it easy to read and understand while still covering a wide range of content related to the subject. You won't qualify for a PhD after reading this book, but you should have a good understanding of Archaeology.

After reading this tome, I dug up my backyard and found a new unknown civilization. No evidence of human sacrifice, but from all the fossilized cigarette butts I came across, chain smoking led to the society's decline. Oh, and they wore cummerbunds. Many cummerbunds.

If your interested in Archaeology and haven't taken any formal classes this is the book for you. I've been getting several archaeology magazines for years and this has really helped me understand so much more. Well worth the money.

it is what it is.. great if you know nothing at all, did have some good bit in there. worth the money id say at $3.00